Judge to rule on validity of DIA tax

Jean (Hans) Arp's 1964 sculpture "Torso of a Giant" is shown outside The Detroit Institute of Arts in Detroit, Tuesday, July 10, 2012. The Detroit Institute of Arts is working to persuade voters to authorize a tax to support the cultural institution, promising free admission and expanded programing if it passes while raising the possibility that the museum would be a shadow of its current self if it's rejected. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Based on legal arguments put forward Monday, a Macomb County Circuit judge will determine whether to toss out a lawsuit claiming that the August tax levy for the Detroit Institute of Arts won passage at the ballot box by fooling voters.

At issue is the contract drawn up by the newly created Macomb County Arts Authority board that provided “unlimited, free admission” to the DIA for county residents — a key selling point — if the millage passed. Museum officials have argued that the free entrance does not include the extra fee associated with special exhibits, such as the recent display of Faberge eggs and artifacts.

At Monday’s court hearing, Circuit Judge John Foster wondered whether the Michigan Taxpayers Alliance, led by former state representative Leon Drolet of Macomb Township, had proper legal standing to intervene.

Under the DIA tax protocol, Macomb County and its two neighboring counties each appointed an arts authority board to reach agreement on transfer of property tax dollars to the museum and to oversee the proper allocation of those dollars each year.

Advertisement

“We have a binding contract between two parties and now we have a third party intervening to tell the other two parties what that contract is supposed to mean or say,” said Arthur O’Reilly, an attorney for the Honigman-Miller law firm in Bloomfield Hills, who was hired to represent the DIA.

After the hearing, Drolet denounced that legal argument.

“This is not a typical contract that’s established for the benefit of the arts authority. Those members of the authority are representing the citizens of Macomb County. We (the MTA) are not some weird third party,” said Drolet, who also served as a county commissioner.

In addition to Drolet, the plaintiffs in the case include Macomb County Republican activists Simon Haddad of Clinton Township, Philis DeSaele of Sterling Heights and Dennis Bucholtz of Warren.

After a difficult struggle to get the tax on the ballot to benefit the financially struggling DIA, museum officials waged a low-budget millage campaign and in August saw the small levy pass by wide margins in Oakland and Wayne counties and by a whisker in Macomb County.

Now, DIA officials and board members say that Drolet’s lawsuit is an example of not-so-subtle Detroit bashing used by anti-tax groups in the past in Macomb County to argue that the suburbs are unfairly subsidizing the inner city.

The 0.2-mill DIA tax costs a typical Macomb County homeowner between $10 and $15 a year.

MTA attorney Shyler Engel made his case to Foster that the DIA’s claim of free admission violated the Michigan Consumer Protection Act, which shields consumers from business scams.

Engel also challenged an affidavit filed with the court by the Arts Authority chairman, Stan Simek, which indicated that the board understood that free admission for residents did not include special exhibits. Because Simek is a former DIA employee and was an outspoken advocate of the millage, Engel asserted that “it’s hard to say that his credibility is not in contention.”